Thailand's army chief, staunch royalist General Prayuth Chan-ocha, is finally having his moment in the limelight.

He looks authentic - really a stereotypical coup leader – decked
in his uniform, chest covered in medals, and with all that talk
about saving the country. Only dark glasses are missing,
otherwise he would easily pass for a Southeast Asian Pinochet.

He snaps at the press, insults journalists and talks about curfew
as if it would be some scout game, which he could be authorized
to impose on the entire nation.

“The general who led the military takeover of Thailand is
known as an ardent defender of the monarchy, an adversary of the
former prime minister at the center of the nation's political
crisis, and a prickly personality prone to snap at unwanted
questions”, wrote AP on 23 May, 2014.

General Prayuth and his junta, did much more than overthrow the
government. They summoned and humiliated now ousted Prime
Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her 22 associates, and they
also, at least temporarily, disappeared several government and
‘opposition’ leaders. The press was unscrupulously
ordered to shut up and a 10PM to 5AM curfew was imposed all over
this divided country.

One Western analyst who resides in the city of Chiang Mai (he did
not want to be identified out of fear of retributions),
explained:

“The coup here included some disturbing developments out of
the Hitler playbook. Just before the coup, leaders of the
opposition and of the government attended a meeting organized by
the military. It was supposedly for a peaceful discussion. But
before they could leave the meeting place, the leaders of both
groups were suddenly arrested by the military - and the coup was
on.

Chiang Mai city where I live is far from the 'action' in the
capital Bangkok. And we haven't seen any military activity here
yet. But this city is a tourist Mecca, and the downtown streets
are usually full of Thais and tourists. However, tonight as the
military imposed an after-10pm curfew on the whole country the
streets outside my room are eerily empty, with only the very
occasional vehicle passing by.”

Of course many tourists cancelled their trips to the Kingdom. The
country is on the brink of recession; its gross domestic product
shrank by 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014 compared with
the previous three months. Political violence shattered
confidence, and several analysts are predicting total collapse of
the country that was, for decades, one of the staunchest allies
of the West in Southeast Asia.

Not that anyone at the top seems to care too much about such
‘details’ like economic growth or economic contraction.
All this is not about economy (economy was the main concern of
Thaksin Shinawatra, the exiled tycoon and modern day capitalist
with certain socialist ideas).

What is at stake in Thailand right now is the very survival of
the old regime, which is saturated with staunch pro-Western
cadres: mostly those from the Cold War era, when the students and
leftists were relentlessly murdered and tortured. It is also full
of collaborators from the ‘Vietnam War’ days, when
Thailand allowed the US and its allies to use its land, airports,
pilots and poor and often underage girls from the north, for one
sole purpose: to exterminate several million Laotians, Cambodians
and Vietnamese, mainly civilians.

Most of the Thai elite were either born, educated or trained (or
all of the above) in the United States or Europe. The monarch is
US-born and raised, while several right wing politicians,
including former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and various key
‘opposition leaders’, spent many of their formative
years at Eton, Oxford and Cambridge. Their main goal is to retain
power, the tremendous gap between the rich and poor, and to keep
the dispossessed majority at the fringes of Thai society.

Recently, Mr. Akanut Phromphan, the spokesman of the People’s
Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), and Oxford-educated leader of
the pro-elite ‘opposition’ told me: “This, here,
right now – it is not a class struggle.” He then talked
about so-called “Red Shirts” who consist of both Thaksin
Shinawatra’s supporters, and also of many Marxists. He made sure
to repeat to me, again and again, that these protesters are
having nothing to do with fighting for equality for all Thais,
or, god forbid, with class struggle. Then he continued:

“We want to oust Thaksin Shinawatra, his sister (then still
caretaker Prime Minister) Yingluck Shinawatra, her Pheu Thai
party, and all of their supporters… Only when they are gone, then
we can return to a ‘normal democratic process’…”

What he meant was obvious: ‘destroy democracy, the will of
the majority, and then, after banning the majority parties and
leaders, call for new elections and compete with only those who
are left.’

Now they succeeded – by sending tanks onto the streets of
Bangkok.

Mr. Phromphan did not even try to hide his admiration for the
military. He had said before the coup:

“Once we are holding power, we will reform the police!”

“What about the military?” I asked.

“Why the military?” he replied. “There is nothing
wrong with the military.”

“The military performed at least a dozen of military coups
since the 1930’s”, I suggested. “And all of Bangkok is
now talking about a possibility of yet another one.”

They performed many more, of course, but I was sticking to their
own, official count.

His followers confirmed whom they are fighting for, and on whose
side. : “We are all for the Monarchy! And we are one with our
military”, resolutely declared Mr. Sokoltee Phattiyakol,
member of the PDRC.

Democracy? Not their method

Elections, democracy, did not work for the elite. There were
democratic and free elections in 2001, in 2005, 2006, 2007 and
finally in 2011. In 2014, ‘protesters’ or call it
‘opposition’, intimidated voters, beat up some of them
openly and publicly, barricaded polling stations. It is because
they knew that, like in all previous elections Thai people would
vote in, again and again, either Mr. Shinawatra directly, or at
least his political allies.

That would mean a modern, capitalist but socially oriented
Thailand, most likely much closer to China than to the West.

And such an outcome is clearly unacceptable in the client states
of the West. Thailand learned well from Washington, London and
Paris: elections and ‘democracy’ are accepted only when
people vote for those designated by the elite.

Like in Chile or Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, or pre-1965
Indonesia, and even in 2014 Ukraine: when people vote
‘irresponsibly’ (to borrow from the lexicon of
Kissinger), the West and its allies inside the country are always
ready to ‘correct the mistakes’, by smashing elected
governments and the voters, by sending jets flying over their
heads and tanks rolling down their streets. Then people start
disappearing, and guns begin to fire relentlessly. The fear,
horror that engulfs the nations, is the best ally of the rulers.

The guns were firing on May 22, 2014, where the crowds,
supporters of democratically elected leaders, were gathering and
were ready to march on the center of the capital.

‘How far Thailand has fallen’

This time it was too much even for some radically pro-business
publications, like the influential, London-based The Economist.
It snapped at the Thai elite a few days before the coup, right
after the Thai Constitutional Court demanded that Ms. Yingluck
and nine members of her cabinet resign:

“With all the pretense of due legal process and distaste at
Ms Yingluck’s nepotism, this was not an offence that merited the
ousting of a prime minister. Instead, the ruling is a measure of
quite how far Thailand has fallen, how deeply it is divided and
how badly its institutions are broken. Unless Thais step back
from the brink, their country risks falling into chaos and
anarchy, or outright violence.”

Reaction from Western capitals remained rhetoric and muted, in
sharp contrast to the way Washington, London or Paris treat
Russia or China, ostracizing them after often totally absurd but
loudly trumpeted charges.

There was no talk of immediate sanctions against the Kingdom, and
no generals were put on the list of individuals banned from
entering the United States or European Union.

As Reuters reported on May 22, 2014, “US Secretary of State
John Kerry said there was no justification for the coup, which
would have "negative implications" for ties, especially military
ones ... He also called for the release of detained politicians.
There was also condemnation from France, the European Union and
the United Nations human rights office. Japan said the coup was
regrettable and Australia said it was "gravely concerned.”"

But nothing more substantial came; there was no direct action and
no threat emerging from the handlers of the Thai
‘elite’, at least not openly. After all, the Thai
military and Thai elite and Thai (self-censored)… were always
absolutely reliable when it came to the most important things for
the Empire: in torturing and liquidating, or at least helping to
torture and to liquidate, almost all progressive forces in the
country and in the region.

Past changes

Just two weeks ago, I was driving through the countryside of
northern Thailand, between the city of Chiang Rai and the border
with Burma, (Myanmar). There, ethnic majorities were living for
decades without any rights, without citizenship, education and
medical care. It was brutal world, totally unjust.

Then Thaksim came. Capitalist or not, he did what many leaders in
Latin America or even Russia would do: he gave them citizenships
and sent them to school, gave them the right to receive free
medical care and rural subsidies.

These are simple, good people. I talked to them for hours, in the
villages of Yao and Lahu tribes. Their stories, testimonies, are
simple:

“I support the government and Mr Thaksim”, explained a
54-years old farmer. “They help the poor here. They
eradicated opium growing and introduced sound agriculture. They
built the school here… and now we are getting free medical care.
It totally changed our life.”

A lady, young mother, chips in: “They do so much for
children. Now 15 years of education is free.”

“Maybe the army is not going to intervene,” said one of
the farmers, with hope in his eyes.

It did. It is intervening now… against the will of the Thai
majority, and with absolute arrogance. They know something that
they would not tell. Like the Egyptian military right now, like
the Ukrainian one.

One of the villagers, an old lady, looked towards the road:
“If they intervene, then maybe this entire country will go up
in flames”.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.